Tank commander in decisive battles

Albin Irzyk was only 27 when he became tank commander, spearheading Gen. George Patton's drive across Europe.

"A life can climax early. Mine did," said Irzyk, 90, of West Palm Beach. "Our tank battalion had 76 tanks and about 1,500 men. That's a lot on your shoulders when you're 27 years old."

Irzyk's first battle came in the liberation of a small French town named Coutances, a critical victory in the Allied fight to knock the Germans out of Normandy. Patton led the tank charge like a horse cavalry, sweeping across France.

In December 1944, Irzyk led his division into the bloodiest U.S. confrontation of the war in Europe, the Battle of the Bulge. The thick, wooded terrain complicated tank movement, Irzyk said, and made a bad situation worse for the relatively inexperienced U.S. forces. Both sides endured heavy losses.

Irzyk remained in Germany after the war. Policing the lawless country was as difficult a job as any he faced in battle.

"We tried to make order of chaos," he said.

He stayed in the military after the war and rose to the level of brigadier general, a post that included a stint in Vietnam. Unlike so many veterans he served with, Irzyk said he has never shied away from telling his stories. He's even written four books about his time in war and memories of Patton.

"You're talking about the defining moments of people's lives," he said. "Even people who've gone on to become big success stories when they get out of the military, they single out their war experience as the most important thing that ever happened to them.

"There's a sense of pride there. And that pride can make some open up, and others close down."